After a year at the university Fançoise Hardy answered a newspaper advertisement looking for young singers. In April 1962, shortly after she left university, her first record “Oh Oh Chéri” appeared, written by Johnny Hallyday’s writing duo. Her own flip side of the record, “Tous les garçons et les filles” became a success, riding the wave of Yé-yé music in France. It sold over a million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The track peaked at number 36 in the UK Singles Chart in 1964.

Fançoise Hardy in a fashion shooting for Paco Rabanne. “If it weren’t for the way I dress, no one would notice me,” Hardy, who aligned herself with risk-taking designers like André Courrèges, Emmanuelle Khanh, Paco Rabbane, and Yves Saint Laurent, told a reporter in 1968.

Fançoise Hardy With Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan asked to meet with Françoise when he came to Paris for a concert at the Olympia in 1966. On the cover of his LP “Another Side of Bob Dylan”, released in 1964, he had written a long poem “Some other kinds of songs”, which included the following –

for françoise hardy
at the seine’s edge
a giant shadow
of notre dame
seeks t’ grab my foot
sorbonne students
whirl by on thin bicycles
swirlin’ lifelike colors of leather spin
the breeze yawns food
far from the bellies
of erhard meetin’ johnson
piles of lovers
fishing
kissing
lay themselves on their books. boats.
old men
clothed in curly mustaches
float on the benches
blankets of tourists
in bright red nylon shirts
with straw hats of ambassadors …